48 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
The smooth dogfish is particularly abundant along the coasts of New Jersey and Long Island, 
extending to Woods Hole, Mass. 
The average length of this shark is 2 to 3 feet, but fish as long as 5 feet have been reported. 
Habitat. — Cape Cod to Cuba, rarely straying to the Bay of Fundy; southern Europe. 
Chesapeake localities. — (a) Previous records: None. (6) Specimens in present collection: 
None. This record is based upon a specimen observed at Gwynns Island, Va., May 6, 1915, and 
another at Buckroe Beach, Va., early in May, 1915, by Lewis Radcliffe. 
6. Genus CARCHARHINUS Blainville 
Body rather robust; head broad, depressed; snout produced; nostrils and mouth inferior; teeth 
compressed, more or less triangular, with large cusp and usually a broad base; eyes small, with a well 
developed nictitating membrane; spiracles wanting; first dorsal large, placed not far behind the pec- 
torals; second dorsal small, wholly or partly above the anal; distinct pits at base of each caudal lobe. 
The embryos are attached to the uterus by a placenta. 
6. Carcharhinus milberti (Muller and Ilenle). Milbert’s shark. 2 
Carcharias ( Prionodon ) milberti Muller and Henle, Plagiostomen, 1838, p. 38, PI. XIX, fig. 3 (teeth); New York. 
Carcharhinus milberti Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 37; Smith and Bean, 1899, p. 180. 
Body stout; head broad, strongly depressed; snout rather broadly rounded, its preoral part 
about 1.1 in its length to eye; mouth wide, its width equal to preoral length of snout; eye lateral, 
small, 4.1 to 5.1 in snout; nictitating membrane evident; interorbital space somewhat greater than 
length of snout; teeth in upper jaw triangular, the edges serrate, about 29 in outer series, teeth in 
lower jaw narrow, erect, with finely serrate edges, about 26 in outer series; longest gill slit 3.1 to 
3.3 in snout; dermal denticles not overlapping, with three distinct keels; first dorsal with concave 
outer margin, inserted behind origin of pectorals, its base 2 to 2.15 in distance between dorsals; 
second dorsal small, its base 5.1 to 5.6 in distance between dorsals; upper lobe of caudal long, 4 to 
4.15 in total length; anal opposite the second dorsal and only slightly larger, its outer margin deeply 
concave; ventral fins inserted at vertical from a point equidistant from the end of the base of the 
first dorsal and the origin of the second dorsal; pectoral fins longer than broad, 5.9 to 6.4 in total 
length. 
Color in life, taken from two specimens — a male, 635 millimeters (25 inches), and a female, 
620 millimeters (24% inches) — bluish gray above, white below; highest part of both dorsals and 
upper extremity of caudal slightly dusky; tip of pectoral of one fish slightly dusky underneath. 
This shark is represented in the collection by six specimens — five females and one male— ranging 
from 450 to 648 millimeters (17% to 25% inches) in length. Although rather rare in Chesapeake 
Bay, it is perhaps more common than any other shark except the spiny dogfish. The only fish 
taken during the collecting of 1921 were caught off Janes Island, Crisfield, Md., where, on September 
16, the catch was two, fishing one and one-half hours; on September 18 the catch was five, fishing 
six hours with hook and line at depths of 50 to 90 feet. During 1922 five sharks of this species 
were caught at Ocean View, Va., with seines, on October 6, 10, 17, and 18. 
Like most sharks, this species feeds chiefly on fish. The stomachs of two specimens examined 
contained fragments of fish bones, and another had eaten one pinfish ( Lagodon rhomboides) . 
The young on the coast of Long Island are born during June and July, from 8 to 14 at one time, 
and about equally, males and females (Nichols and Murphy, 1916, p. 16). 
This is one of the medium-sized sharks, attaining a maximum length of about 8 feet. A fish 
18 inches in length weighed 1% pounds; 24% inches, 3% pounds; 25 inches, 3% pounds. 
Habitat. — Middle Atlantic and middle eastern Pacific (Garman, 1913, p. 133); northward on 
the Atlantic coast of America to Woods Hole, Mass. 
Chesapeake localities. — (a) Previous records: Fort Washington and Glymont, Md. ( b ) Spec- 
imens in collection or observed in the field: Crisfield, Md., September, 1921; Ocean View, Va., 
October, 1922. 
! This shark is also known as the blue shark, but we discard this name in order to avoid confusion with Galeus glaucus, a shark 
of wide distribution and which for many years has been known to fishermen and whalers as the “blue shark.” 
